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[elenamonatpeace-spain-world-blog]

Post 13. Which book did you most enjoy?

I personally liked The Handmaid’s Tale out of all four novels we read this semester. This novel has got a prolong effect on me because I see some similarities between attributes of the book and attributes of the present day. For instance, how society still struggles about gender roles and how some women out there still undergo everyday oppression like in some Arabic, religious countries. Also, since I am from another part of the world, this book made me look at the issues from two different perspectives of two different cultures. I am really curious, how did you guys react to this book since we did not have much talk about it in the class?

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

I thought it was a great book. What sets it apart from the other three books is exactly what you said, a woman’s perspective. Which, wasn't a factor much, if at all, in the other three books. In both Fahrenheit 451 and 1984, women were portrayed as escapists, empty in thought, and deserving of contempt (Clarisse would probably be the only exception). The only woman mentioned in The Road was portrayed as cynical and lacking courage. So, in that regard The Handmaid’s Tale was definitely a breath of fresh air. I believe Professor Clark said in class “Write what you know”, so that might explain why the only book we read which took an interest in women was written by a woman. 

I would say though, what I most enjoyed about The Handmaid’s Tale was Atwood’s writing style, her power of description was absolutely stunning in a number of places. 

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

I’d like to talk a bit about the movie. I had actually already seen it a year or two ago, and thought it was a great movie. Now, that I’ve re-watched it after reading the book, I think my opinion of it has lessened, at least a bit. I can live with some of the changes they made to render certain elements of the book less cumbersome in terms of the movie’s production, like some of the changes in setting, for instance. But, I wasn’t happy with some of the thematic elements being distorted in order to appease a more general audience. 

For instance, the book took a decidedly agnostic stance on religion, whereas the movie was more theological in its presentation of the story. I couldn't help but resent this, considering this was arguably the central theme in the book.

Another instance is the change of setting for the Man’s death. This isn’t such a big deal, but the setting of the beach in the movie does provide a more optimistic outlook than the setting among fallen trees in the book. 

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

Tangent to the boiling frog anecdote is the sorites paradox, or paradox of the heap. Assume a heap of sand - if grains of sand are removed from the heap one by one, at what point is the heap no longer a heap? 

In my mind the problem here is linguistic in nature. Revisiting the theory of linguistic determinism, the solution to this paradox could be a refinement of the language that restricts and binds us to the concept of a “heap”. Adverbs don’t help to resolve vagueness in this case; they do nothing to determine when a heap becomes not so. That is, it does answer the question raised to say the sand is very heap-like, or rather heap-like, or even absolutely heap-like. People may agree on what is a heap or not a heap, but may disagree on when the change occurs - and all may be unaware that it even has occurred. 

If language is able to place a limit on our ability to distinguish between a “heap” and a “not heap”, then the same could certainly be true of our ability to distinguish between political conditions. In general, people tend to categorize political systems, states, or nations as being either free or not free. This vocabulary is analogous to a two-position switch, when what is needed is something continuously-variable. 

Consider the fallacy applied to “The Handmaid’s Tale”, giving the following argument: 

Today women are free.

One day of political change will not render them un-free.

Therefore, women can never be un-free. 

The problem here should be obvious, and would likely explain the bystander apathy noted by Offred during the rise of Gilead. 

[school-n-odle-blog]

The Dresden Dolls ‘Shores of California’ music video So the reasoning behind this week’s video: just some of the stuff that people like the Commander and the other proponents of the Republic of Gilead seem to think is wrong with pre-RoG society. Also kind of an homage to Moira. (and maybe I needed just a bit of fun to counteract how much this book disturbs me) The scary thing is that some of the reasoning behind the RoG SEEMS valid, or might if it was something slow coming on rather than a sudden change. Should we be worried about all the crime and murder and horror in the world? Yes. Wouldn’t it be lovely if there were some sweeping change that could change it all? At first I would be tempted to say yeah, sure, but after reading this book I’m pretty sure I would have to think long and hard about it. People don’t tend to think long and hard about the issues going on around them unless it affects them directly (myself included). Just like Luke in the story we don’t tend to think about how things might be more difficult for people of other genders, races, religions until it is our gender, race or religion being oppressed in some form. A girl can tell a man all day about how embarrassing it is to be sexually harassed and he might still think ‘what’s the big deal, it’s a compliment’. Someone of another ethnicity could tell me all they like about how they are treated differently based on their name or color, and while I might think I understand I never really will because I haven’t lived it. The men in this story might really think they are doing women a ‘favor’ (at least some might), but that doesn’t change the fact that they have only taken some problems that faced women and replaced them with others. I think that this story is saying that we need to be more vigilant as individuals and as a society about what is taking place in the world around us, locally, nationally, internationally. We need to pay attention to more than what affects ‘me’ and try to see the big picture. If we don’t it could be too late by the time we realize something is wrong.

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

This is an illustration of the anecdote Professor Clark discussed in class. It does serve nicely as a metaphor of the death of civil rights by attrition, which is certainly a recurring theme in our material. 

The anecdote is apparently based on a series of experiments performed in the 19th century. One German scientist (who was performing the experiments in an attempt to locate the soul. Creepy.) discovered that whole frogs would leap from the water once the temperature reached a certain point. However, he also performed the test on frogs with their brains removed, and these frogs would allow themselves to be boiled (who would guess). So, perhaps the lesson here is that we should strive to be whole frogs. 

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

So, I would like to draw some comparisons between the fictional theocracy depicted in “The Handmaid’s Tale” and some of our contemporary nonfiction theocracies. The two modern day theocracies that immediately come to mind are fundamentalist Islam and fundamentalist Mormonism, but I think that Mormon culture is the more relevant comparison in this case, given its proximity. 

There are a number of parallels to be drawn here. For one, plural marriage is practiced by both Gileadeans(I think this is the correct demonym.) and Mormons. Both also encourage women to be submissive and dependent. Both prohibit abortion, tobacco, alcohol, coffee, tea(I think), piercings, tattoos, gambling, pornography, immodest dress, etc., etc. There’s almost a direct correlation here. Male students at Brigham Young University are prohibited from growing beards(I laughed). 

I had a close friend in high school who was originally from Utah, and her upbringing there had left her pretty disillusioned with the LDS church and its members. Particularly in light of some of the more ridiculous claims made in “The Book of Mormon”. It’s disturbing to me that the LDS church has ~15 million followers, but therein lies the plausibility of Atwood’s story. 

[mikewright11-blog]

So far this book has been less interesting than the previous readings. Margaret Atwood spends more time describing each scene, but spends less time building up the story. One thing I have noticed with this book is focusing on controlling certain groups instead of the entire population in 1984 and...

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

I must say that I’m really enjoying Atwood’s style. It’s like a breath of fresh air reading this book, following the straightforward style Orwell uses in 1984. That isn't to say that I found Orwell to be terse or dry, but I think that Atwood’s writing imparts a certain cadence or rhythm that both Orwell and Bradbury lacked - it has a nice flow to it. The book does seem to devote quite a bit of its material to setting, with the narrative somewhat oblique to it. But, I won’t complain, considering I’m not deep into the book yet. 

I’m also excited to see how the rest of the story unfolds; whether we’ll get another negative resolution like that of 1984. 

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

Rush - 2112 [HD FULL SONG]

Here’s the suite, for anyone interested.

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

'I lie awake, staring out at the bleakness of Megadon. City and sky become one, merging into a single plane, a vast sea of unbroken grey. The Twin Moons, just two pale orbs as they trace their way across the steely sky. I used to think I had a pretty good life here, just plugging into my machine for the day, then watching Templevision or reading a Temple Paper in the evening. 'My friend Jon always said it was nicer here than under the atmospheric domes of the Outer Planets. We have had peace since 2062, when the surviving planets were banded together under the Red Star of the Solar Federation. The less fortunate gave us a few new moons. I believed what I was told. I thought it was a good life, I thought I was happy. Then I found something that changed it all...' - Rush "2112" liner notes

I’ve been looking around trying to find examples of music that relate to our reading in some way, thematically or otherwise. Rush’s 1976 album “2112″ features a suite of the same name with an obviously dystopian theme. The suite is comprised of seven parts, and totals about 20 minutes altogether. The quote above is taken from the suite’s narrative, which is interspersed with the lyrics in the album’s liner notes.

Anyways, the lyrics, along with the narrative, tell the story of a nameless man subjected to the rule of the Priests of the Solar Federation, who rule from their Temples. They produce all of their society’s literature, art, music, etc. So, while in a cave, the man happens upon a guitar(an ancient relic of the Elder race of man). He takes up the guitar and begins to play it (Part III of the suite begins with guitarist Alex Lifeson playing the open strings, and as the part continues the chord progressions become increasingly more complex, in order to imitate the protagonist learning to play the guitar. Nice example of musical allusion, or whatever it might be considered.), he is overtaken by the idea of individuals being able to produce their own music, and presents the guitar and his idea to the Priests. 

After they reject the guitar as “another toy which helped destroy the elder race of man”, as well as his idea, he becomes disillusioned with the Federation. He retreats to the cave and falls into a deep depression as he imagines what his life might have been like in the time from which the guitar came, and considers his true life to be meaningless and miserable absent these joys. He also considers that the elder race fled Earth, and would one day return to overthrow the federation. However, the story ends with the protagonist taking his own life, out of despair. 

Supposedly, the band based this story on Ayn Rand’s dystopic novella “Anthem”, published in 1937. Still, there is a strong parallel to the Party and the Ministry of Truth. The Priests’ treatment of the guitar, treatment of individuality in general, and the manner in which they refer to those they usurped(”the elder race”) as something otherworldly, also draws a strong parallel to the treatment of the prior American society by the theocracy of Gilead. 

[rc-redmon-blog-blog]

As we all know we are half way through the class. I hope everyone did well on theirmidterms. I am looking forward to the second half because I have never read either of these books. Just by judging them by their covers they both look interesting. I have heard that one is better than the other but...

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

I haven't read either, and I don't think I had even heard of "The Handmaid's Tale" prior to buying it for this class. I have seen the movie adaptation of "The Road" though, and thought it was an excellent story. I'm really excited to find out what's in the book that was cut from the movie(there's usually something).

I know "The Handmaid's Tale" is, like F-451 and 1984, dystopian literature. I suppose it'll be nice to get one last perspective on the genre before we move on to "The Road"'s post-apocalyptic setting. 

Also, didn't anyone ever tell you "don't judge a book by its cover"?

#03062015reblog

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

I was recently reading on the distinction between "hard" and "soft" science fiction, given that the books we've read would both technically fall under the science fiction umbrella. Hard science fiction primarily focuses on the "hard" or natural sciences; physics, mathematics, astronomy, etc. Soft science fiction focuses primarily on the "soft" or social sciences; philosophy, political science, psychology, linguistics, etc. Dystopian literature tends to deal with the social sciences. 

Linguistic determinism holds that a given language is rigid in nature, and thus limits the ways in which a person is able to perceive the world. That is, one's language is a limit upon one's thoughts. And here, we arrive at the underlying principle of Newspeak. 

Trying to think of a personal example of this, I recall that one of my professors recently told me that the Greeks have several(it's actually six) words meaning "love". Where we have the one word, the Greek language breaks it down into several shades of meaning. Having no knowledge of the Greek words, it can be difficult to discern what those six meanings might be having only ever known the single word "love". 

Point being, having a precursory understanding of the larger issues(I'm assuming literature doesn't typically deal with obscure issues) within the various social science fields may go a long ways towards understanding literature. Or, at the very least, being aware of what field of study a particular element within a work is referencing will enable you to effectively research it and make meaning. In this case, Newspeak >>> linguistics >>> linguistic determinism. 

[school-n-odle-blog]

The Complete Metropolis - Official Trailer [HD]

I have been trying to decide what to post about this week given the lack of actual readings to go off of. I decided to share this video with a trailer of Metropolis because I have been reminded of it a few times throughout the semester so far. The most basic reason I have thought of it is the idea of a ‘dystopian future’, which is pretty much what that movie and everything we have read so far is about. This movie also features the girl getting the boy in a whole bunch of trouble (even if half the trouble the girl gets him into is as an android). In Fahrenheit 451 Millie and her friends turn Montag in, and in 1984 Julia is at least part of the reason that Winston becomes so careless.

Also the jumpsuits. Look at all those jumpsuits. Remind you of any Party? The kicker is that Metropolis was actually released before 1984 was published. We’ve talked a lot about how these books have influenced modern literature and film, but perhaps these authors were as much the influenced as the influencers.

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

Very good find, that movie even predates Brave New World(What I find most disturbing is the fact that that movie was made in Germany just six years prior to Hitler being elected chancellor!). I've been looking around to determine what is considered the earliest examples of dystopian literature. It looks to be pretty sparse prior to the 1930's, and I would venture to say that dystopian themes were even more sparse in cinema; meaning Metropolis was probably something remarkable in its time. 

Looking at some more recent dystopian literature, one author that fascinates me is Philip K. Dick. I've only read a few of his short stories, though I've seen several of the many films that were based on his writing. Minority Report(2002), which a lot of you have probably seen, is based on one of his short stories. Looking back on that movie, its dystopian themes are clear. The story also seems to pay homage to Wells, as Dick makes use of some seemingly Newspeakian words, such as "precrime" and "precog". These words would certainly serve to obscure the plain meaning they're meant to not suggest. The practice of arresting people for crimes they have yet to commit(precrime), or even think, is also suggestive of Wells' "thoughtcrime". 

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

Doublespeak - Deliberately euphemistic, ambiguous, or obscure language.

In going through some of the applications of 1984 to today's world, the concept of doublespeak was probably one of the more entertaining of those that I came across. The word "doubelspeak" is derived from Orwell's Newspeak word "doublethink", if you hadn't guessed. Its use is mostly confined to the fields of politics and journalism. Having an awareness of being subjected to doublespeak tends to render it ineffective and its user a droll buffoon. 

Some examples include:

Using "post-traumatic stress disorder" in place of "shell shock". (I heard George Carlin mention this one back in the day. It always stuck with me for some reason.)

"Downsizing" in place of "firing employees".

"Enhanced interrogation" in place of "torture".

"Servicing the target" in place of "bombing".

"Capital punishment" in place of "death penalty", or better yet, "execution". 

"Manipulation of words" in place of "lying". 

"Energetic disassembly" in place of "explosion". 

"The Patriot Act" in place of "Loss of Privacy Act". 

Although Orwell did not directly create the word "doublespeak" for 1984, it's evident that he specifically warns against the use of euphemistic language throughout the book. 

[elenamonatpeace-spain-world-blog]

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

Part Two and first part of Part Three were interesting. Especially, how much Orwell talked about government systems and politics in chapter Nine. He wrote interesting thoughts about how the...

Well, you seem to be the only other one who didn't find chapter nine to be a complete bore. The rest of the book would be pointless without the context provided in that chapter.

As far as the possibility of Orwell's society - while such a society is certainly proven able to exist, I'm not totally convinced that such a society could possibly exist for anything more than a brief period. Orwell makes a fantastic attempt to construct a flawless Party, one O'Brien asserts could persist for a million years(which for all practical purposes, is beyond the reckoning of any man). But, his society is dependent upon far too much to be everlasting. 

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

Last week I brought up the treatment of utilitarianism in our readings. In this regard, I think that 1984 really sets itself apart from the other works that we've read in this class. While the dystopian powers in both Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 actively work to suppress Mill's higher pleasures and encourage his lower pleasures, Big Brother and the Party work always to suppress both. 

It's rather difficult to say which is more frightening; Huxley's world in which one falsely perceives themselves as having all that they could desire, or Orwell's, in which one dare not have any such conceptions. 

[mikewright11-blog]

As it seems with all of the other readings this semester,1984 is about government control. Specifically, the “dumbing down” of society in order to gain this control. In Fahrenheit 451 it was accomplished through removing literature used to gain outside knowledge. In Harrison Bergeron...

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

I have to agree that there is something misguided and dangerous in what seems to be this country's slow shift to a national curriculum. There are currently ~55 million K-12 students in the U.S., and to presume that there exists a single curriculum which adequately serves the individual students who comprise that population is arrogant and autocratic. 

All such an initiative provides is a complete discounting of individual ability, talent and desire, and a vague, ubiquitous, near-inescapable curriculum yielding a half-useless, under-specialized, homogeneous, orthodox population. Further, not only does a national curriculum discount the individual, it discourages them from differentiating themselves as such. Precisely the sort of circumstance presented in the works we've covered in this class. 

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

Utilitarian themes.

This past week in my Ethics course, we discussed utilitarian theory, as laid out by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. The utilitarian view asserts that we must weigh moral choices against that outcome which maximizes pleasure and happiness for those concerned, while minimizing pain and suffering. 

Bentham asserted that one only need be concerned with the quantity of happiness, while Mill asserted that one need be concerned with the quality, as well as the quantity. In Mill's view, pleasure could be sorted into one of two categories, lower and higher. The lower pleasures include eating, drinking, sex, etc., while the higher pleasures include intellectual pursuits, artistic pursuits, appreciation of beauty, etc. It is these latter that he considers the more important. 

Anyways, I find that this theory helps me explain at least one of the themes present in some of our reading, particularly Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World. In both of those stories, the proletariat is largely kept happy by the instituted powers by providing the lower pleasures in ample quantity, while outright denying the higher pleasures. So, I suppose from this perspective, one is able in one sense to effectively criticize such treatment. 

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

I must say that I’ve been considering the reasons for Huxley’s naming of Bernard Marx. In what we read of the book, Huxley is seemingly vilifying the hyper-consumerism worshiped and practiced by all in his dystopian universe. Indeed, he gives the man who appears to be the story’s protagonist a…

[wylerg83-deactivated20160501]

I think you are onto something, but I don’t believe Huxley was directly advocating his views on communism in the story so far. What I agree with is that he does attempt to vilify the toxic, unethical extremes that capitalism can bring society to if hyper-consumerism is not given proper moderation by the governing bodies or the people. I think that maybe if Huxley were to attempt to really exposit on the subject of communism in some literary form at this stage of the novel, I would be more inclined to whole-heartedly say yes to your inquiry, James. I think that Bernard’s surname was definitely worth bringing up, perhaps it will become clearer as the plot unravels…of course, I’m just speculating.

[jamesrichardson1111-blog]

It's true that the book could ultimately head in any number of directions, considering what little of it we read. I've read the book before, but that was years ago. I doubt I was really able to pick up on the book's themes at the time, so I plan to re-read it as soon as I finish 1984. 

I'll concede that his arguments work in favor of free market capitalism. For instance, the state capitalism he casts in a negative light could be seen as a direct attack on the similar mode of rule seen in the U.S.S.R. under Joseph Stalin. Huxley's novel also envisions and stigmatizes single-party rule, another hallmark of Stalinism. 

Even still, these work in favor of true communism as well.